Climatic conditions and infant care: implications for child nutrition in rural Ethiopia

Randell, Heather; Grace, Kathryn; Bakhtsiyarava, Maryia

doi:10.1007/s11111-020-00373-3

Cited by 16 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Time spent taking part in agricultural labor can vary according to weather conditions ( 69 ) and was identified in one of the included studies as potentially affecting breastfeeding duration ( 53 ). Similarly, a study in Ethiopia indicated that rainfall during the primary agricultural season in a child's first year of life had a significant impact on EBF duration due to mothers increased hours worked in farming ( 70 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic review of hot weather impacts on infant feeding practices in low-and middle-income countries

Edney

Kovats²,

Filippi³

et al. 2022

Front. Pediatr.

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BackgroundIncreased rates of exclusive breastfeeding could significantly improve infant survival in low- and middle-income countries. There is a concern that increased hot weather due to climate change may increase rates of supplemental feeding due to infants requiring fluids, or the perception that infants are dehydrated.ObjectiveTo understand how hot weather conditions may impact infant feeding practices by identifying and appraising evidence that exclusively breastfed infants can maintain hydration levels under hot weather conditions, and by examining available literature on infant feeding practices in hot weather.MethodsSystematic review of published studies that met inclusion criteria in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health and Web of Science databases. The quality of included studies was appraised against predetermined criteria and relevant data extracted to produce a narrative synthesis of results.ResultsEighteen studies were identified. There is no evidence among studies of infant hydration that infants under the age of 6months require supplementary food or fluids in hot weather conditions. In some settings, healthcare providers and relatives continue to advise water supplementation in hot weather or during the warm seasons. Cultural practices, socio-economic status, and other locally specific factors also affect infant feeding practices and may be affected by weather and seasonal changes themselves.ConclusionInterventions to discourage water/other fluid supplementation in breastfeeding infants below 6 months are needed, especially in low-middle income countries. Families and healthcare providers should be advised that exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is recommended even in hot conditions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic review of hot weather impacts on infant feeding practices in low-and middle-income countries

Edney

Kovats²,

Filippi³

et al. 2022

Front. Pediatr.

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“…Empirical studies have detected greater rates of chronic malnutrition among children in settings affected by armed conflict in several African countries, including Burundi (Bundervoet et al, 2009), Ethiopia and Eritrea (Akresh et al, 2012), Cote d'Ivoire (Minoiu & Shemyakina, 2014), and Rwanda (Akresh et al, 2011) and increased risk of acute malnutrition in Nigeria (Dunn, 2018;Howell et al, 2018) and Somalia (Kinyoki et al, 2017). Research of armed conflict and agricultural labor demands shows that separately these factors may adversely impact the care environment with a negative impact on food and nutrition outcomes (Betancourt & Khan, 2008;Gates et al, 2012;Mansour & Rees, 2012;Randell et al, 2020Randell et al, , 2021.…”

Section: Conflict Events Climate Conditions and Child Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We exclude the youngest children (under 24 months) even though wasting levels may be relatively high within this age group. We exclude this age group because breastfeeding behaviors may vary significantly with notable impacts on child health (Randell et al, 2021). The DHS information on breastfeeding does not contain sufficient detail to evaluate frequency, duration, and other care factors vital to growth of children under 24 months.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Aggregated livelihood zones and growing season calendars have been used in studies of children's health and climate in the developing world (e.g., Bakhtsiyarava et al, 2018;Davenport et al, 2020;Hill et al, 2019;Randell et al, 2021). While not everyone within a particular zone is equally engaged in the same strategy to procure food or income, the data provide a way of gauging differences among geographic areas that may condition the impact and timing of climatological and conflict factors on economic and food production strategies.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Conflict and Climate Factors and the Risk of Child Acute Malnutrition Among Children Aged 24–59 Months: A Comparative Analysis of Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda

et al. 2022

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Acute malnutrition affects a sizeable number of young children around the world, with serious repercussions for mortality and morbidity. Among the top priorities in addressing this problem are to anticipate which children tend to be susceptible and where and when crises of high prevalence rates would be likely to arise. In this article, we highlight the potential role of conflict and climate conditions as risk factors for acute malnutrition, while also assessing other vulnerabilities at the individual- and household-levels. Existing research reflects these features selectively, whereas we incorporate all the features into the same study. The empirical analysis relies on integration of health, conflict, and environmental data at multiple scales of observation to focuses on how local conflict and climate factors relate to an individual child’s health. The centerpiece of the analysis is data from the Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in several different cross-sectional waves covering 2003–2016 in Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda. The results obtained from multi-level statistical models indicate that in Kenya and Nigeria, conflict is associated with lower weight-for-height scores among children, even after accounting for individual-level and climate factors. In Nigeria and Kenya, conflict lagged 1–3 months and occurring within the growing season tends to reduce WHZ scores. In Uganda, however, weight-for-height scores are primarily associated with individual-level and household-level conditions and demonstrate little association with conflict or climate factors. The findings are valuable to guide humanitarian policymakers and practitioners in effective and efficient targeting of attention, interventions, and resources that lessen burdens of acute malnutrition in countries prone to conflict and climate shocks.

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“…In Ethiopia, child-feeding practices are affected by a range of climatic conditions. In the short term, even good seasonal rainfall leads to suboptimal infant feeding practices by increasing agricultural labor demand, resulting in decreased infant caregiving [ 17 ]. On the contrary, in December 2015, El Niño triggered a drought that resulted in 10.2 million Ethiopians requiring emergency assistance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal Time Use Drives Suboptimal Complementary Feeding Practices in the El Niño-Affected Eastern Ethiopia Community

Irenso

Letta

Chemeda

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Ethiopia is affected by recurrent drought and food-insecurity crises, including El Niño. El Niño started in mid-2014, worsened in 2015, and continued in 2016, leading to a widespread food-insecurity emergency resulting in a surge in the rate of acute malnutrition in infants due to suboptimal feeding practices. This study explored how El Niño influenced complementary feeding practices in the eastern Ethiopia community from March to September 2016. It was an exploratory qualitative study with a basic interpretative qualitative approach. A general inductive approach was used for the analysis. The study involved 11 focus group discussions (FGD) with a total of 76 people, including three with mothers, three with Health Development Army (HDA) leaders, two with fathers, two with traditional birth attendants, and one with religious leaders. El Niño resulted in failed crops and loss of livestock, resulting in reduced dietary diversity and meal frequency. El Niño resulted in suboptimal complementary feeding practices by reducing food access and altering livelihood and coping strategies, reducing the time mothers allocated to child feeding, keeping them away from home, and stressing community health services. The maternal suboptimal time allocation is central to the poor complementary feeding practices. Thus, the women should be supported with climate-resilient livelihood options in their villages, allowing them to feed their children and attend education sessions with HDA leaders.

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Climatic conditions and infant care: implications for child nutrition in rural Ethiopia

Cited by 16 publications

References 50 publications

A systematic review of hot weather impacts on infant feeding practices in low-and middle-income countries

A systematic review of hot weather impacts on infant feeding practices in low-and middle-income countries

Conflict and Climate Factors and the Risk of Child Acute Malnutrition Among Children Aged 24–59 Months: A Comparative Analysis of Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda

Maternal Time Use Drives Suboptimal Complementary Feeding Practices in the El Niño-Affected Eastern Ethiopia Community

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